Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Selfinflicted wound. We dont know the entire back story but our understanding is this was not a strategic legal tweet. This was not a Communications Shop messaging tweet. This was the president waking up and doing what we reported him doing in our story which was privately sort of brooding and then publicly feuding and roaring. And he sent this tweet out to refute a bit of our story but in doing so actually pushed his own narrative much further into a place that is not particularly helpful for him or his namesake son. That may be an understatement. Phil rucker, lets talk about dj t. J. To your knowledge and to the best of your reporting, has anything about don june,s case changed materially that has motivated the president s
behavior, his change in mood . You know, the truth is, brian, we just dont know. But the president has become increasingly concerned as he sees mueller inching closer and closer. Theres been a series of indictments all yearlong. Theres a feeling inside trumps legal team and more broadly in his political orbit there could be another shoe to drop this month perhaps. And he sees Paul Manafort, his former Campaign Chairman on trial, and all of this is feeding the fear. And this fear he has is his son, don junior could be in trouble for this Trump Tower Meeting. He spent a lot of time talking about the Trump Tower Meeting and youve seen cohen and his attorney lanny davis making acswraea accusations publicly that maybe he knew about it beforehand. And its all just feeding this anxiety that the president fears and this real fear something could happen to his son not
because he thinks don junior did something wrong but he could have naively inadvertently wandered into serious trouble. Things that happen In Plain Sight dont often have the gravity all the time. And twitter as a medium is entirely lacking in gravity. Its instantly available and ubiquitous. It seems less serious han the weight of lets say legal papers. But do you think from the weight we saw In Plain Sight On Sunday from the president had the weight of a legal matter . It does. It really will have an ulimate weight here. I think twitter may be this president s undoing. Maybe the worse hits his presidency has taken have been his own goals often on twitter or statements to the media. This one has been a doozy by any standard. Its difficult to understand
what would have motivated him. Perhaps he felt provoked by ashley and philips reporting and went off without really thinking through the implications. But this entire idea that donald trump, jr. Could have inadvertinantly wandered into a crime is something we havent focused on and this tweet brings to light. And thats not true. You get criminal liability committing acts with a certain state of mind, not just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So maybe trumps goal here was to run a Public RelationsCampaign Like he so often does on twitter. Let me ask you the u. S. Code, whichia no doubt have committed a ti to memory. It should be unlawful to make a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value. Well come back to those words. Or to make an express or implied
promise to make a contribution or donation in connection with a federal, state or local election. Joyce, my question to you has this notion been liquidated has it been litigated probably a lot of people wish it had been liquidated. That advice from russians could be construed as a thing of value . Its an interesting question, and under this statute where theres been relatively little litigation,t not a lot of appellate case law, certainly people will have different opinions. But a thing of value is really something that people would typically pay value for, people would typically pay a lot of money of Opposition Research. One of the things about this statute is its not just illegal to actually receive this sort of help from a foreign government, its also illegal to solicit that help from a foreign
government. So just based on what we know which is surely only the tip of the iceberg compared to what mueller has, it looks like the participants in this meeting have a lot of trouble in their hands. Phil rucker, are we really going to get an answer this week as to whether the president is going to sit down with Robert Mueller or did rudy giuliani, and forgive the casualness of this, just need a distraction last week to point us in the future . Thats the big question this week. The president s circle, theyve been indicating that a decision would be coming very soon. They inserted the final stages of negotiate eggs back and forth with the special counsels team. Thats been going on for months now to try to figure out the parameters and scope of a potential interview with the president. Who knows if that decision is going to happen. This is president that always says im going to do x, y, and z
in two weeks and four weeks pass and you never hear about it again. I think we all just need to stay tuned. But what we know theres disagreement on the team. The president wants to do the interview because he thinks he can convince mueller hes done nothing wrong. He thinks hes his own best advocate, his own best salesman and so theyre going to have to reconcile that and come to some sort of agreement with the special counsel. The night is young in twitter terms. Ashley parker, theres a devastating line in a piece written tonight by Emily Jane Fox of vanity fair on just what hope hicks was doing on Air Force One this weekend. Some widely speculated that amidst a week in which trump was openly talking about the Trump Tower Meeting having hicks onboard was at best inappropriate and at worst a chance for them to get their
stories straight. Your reaction and any reporting you can add. So i think at the very, very, very least the optics are absolutely horrible. You remember bill clintons Tarmac Meeting during the campaign. You just cant do this. My sense based on some reporting is that this is sort of the free wheeling way things work in trumps orbit. If you look at these rallies over the past week in each one hes sort of taken people who he feels comfortable with during the campaign into the white house including cory lewandowski, hope hicks. And so i think on some level for donald trump theres a sense this is friendsly. Hey, youre in bedminster, why dont you hop on Air Force One and floi floy out to ohio with . But it ignores the fact who hope hicks is, who the president is
and the situation theyre embroiled in. Terrific answer. Bottom line is it was an interesting visual on the tarmac in morris town airport on saturday. Our thanks to Ashley Parker, to philip rucker, to joyce vance. Coming up for us more on why that meeting with russians in trump tower two years ago now is considered so so critical to the ongoing investigation. And later with 92 days to go until the midterms a preview of what well be talking about this time tomorrow night and what those primary results from ohio may show us. Were just getting under way on a monday night beneath the lamp. Are you ready to take your wifi to the next level . Then you need xfinity xfi. A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. So i think from a practical standpoint most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research or Even Research into your opponent. In the case of don he listened. I guess they talked about as i see it they talked about adoption and those sort of things. But Nothing Happened from the meeting. Zero happened from the meeting. While both the president and his son montaned that Trump Tower Meeting yielded no information about Hillary Clinton, the fact it took place, the fact there was a cover story put out about it, those have become big problems. We are lucky to have with us two people who both have won Pulitzer Prizes this year for their reporting on that meeting and all the after effects. With us now matt apuzzo of the New York Times and our friend Ashley Parker has agreed to stick around. Matt, welcome back to the broadcast. What was it like in realtime as you learned of the existence of this meeting . And importantly what are the dangling questions out there still unaddressed . Well, you know, ashley got into this in the previous segment. We wept to them, my colleagues from the times went to the white house on what we know, the existence of this meeting last year. And we said, hey, what was this about . We know don junior, jared kushner, Paul Manafort basically three of the most important people on the Trump Campaign at the height of the campaign are meeting with a kremlin connected lawyer. And we knew that much and we said what was that about. And they pushed this off and said we need tasome time, people are traveling, let us get back to you. And they came back and said you know that was nothing, it was just about adoption. And it was such a head scratcher. I mean it was so obviously it was so obviously bizarre it
raised more questions than it answered. And then over the course of three days the story kept changing. And here we are now a year later and were still trying to figure out where exactly the president is on this and where weve ended up is the president saying, well, we tried to collusion with the russians, but it Didnt Work Out. It Didnt Work Out and we didnt actually pull off the collusion, and that is Head Scratchingly where weve ended up after a year of reporting. And ashley you broke the dictation part of the story which was striking for all of us to read in realtime because were still getting to know the president and his style, but heres this president taking his time and effort to dictate a meeting and the purpose of the meeting at trump tower. Can you believe that we still have so many questions that this still generates this much News Coverage almost a full two yeeshz later . I can and i cant. I can because we sort of understood the way we came to that story and we understood that first statement was drafted or we understand dictated by the president as he flew back from a trip to europe. And our understanding it was sort of this scrambled frenzy on Air Force One to come up with a statement, with the president really taking the lead in dictating it. So that sort of statement, problematic statement that arose from such chaos, im not surprised some of that Frenetic Energy is still continuing onto this day. Matt, remind us, one aide resigned because of his exposure to this effort, correct . Remind me, im trying to keep all of my trump flash cards mark curollo, who was spokesman for the legal team. Yeah, its interesting. He said he resigned because he had concerns about this. The trump team says he was fired, he was never, you know, a valued member of the team like
so much that goes on in this administration. It sort of depends on who you talk to where the truth lies. But i think the Point Ashley Made is good one. And the story she and her colleagues wrote about the misleading statement, that story really has legs because that issue of president trumps involvement in the misleading statement is among the topics bob mueller want to talk to the president about. And that is kind of at the heart of this question is bob mueller going subpoena the president. Is he going to take no for an answer, or is he going to take, well, well talk about this but not that for an answer . Of the foundation of the mueller case, the founding documents, the founding questions, do you think Trump Tower Meeting is easily top five . Yeah, i think you can look at the Questions Mueller Has said he wants answered from the president and this question of what did you know about this
meeting, what did you do in regards to it is front and center. And i think of course it is because it goes to this issue of people from the kremlin show up in the middle of an influence operation that tipped the outcome of the president ial election and they say we are here to help you on behalf of the russian governments efforts to help Donald Trumps campaign. We would like to hurt Hillary Clinton and they say, sure, absolutely lets meet. So of course its front and center. Of course its 1 of the most important issues facing the mueller investigation. Put it that way it sounds lmts li almost like a serious meeting. Ashley parker, whats the fear level and anxiety level among the people who are your regulars who work for the president in the west wing . Its high. And whats striking is its not just high among them but its high with the president himself. And so hes someone who at this moment he does believe hes done nothing wrong. As phil said earlier he believes he can get in the room with mueller and convince him of that. But even the president is worried about who is getting wrapped up in this and especially about his son, don junior. And that is all tied to this one meeting. Its tied to what happened at this meeting. Its tried to who knew what about this meeting before it happened. Its tied to whoever else don june, may or may not have told, and the president understands thats a risk. Because in that tweet on sunday he also knew enough to try to distance himself where he said i didnt know about this meeting in advance. Just because a president says something that doesnt mean its true, but it does show even he realizes any knowledge of this meeting before it happened would be problematic for him. Were 24 minutes into our broadcast week. Weve already had three Pulitzer Prize winners. Our thanks to two of them. Thanks for coming on as always. Coming up the star witness in the trial of Paul Manafort
takes the stand and immediately confesses to criminal behavior. The revelations under oath from rick gates and what he admitted to that caught everyone in that courtroom by surprise when we come back. If yor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both Symptom Relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal Brain Infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Manaforts Former Business Pattern told the jury he committed a number of crimes including bank fraud and tax fraud. Gates said that he and manafort had 15 Offshore Bank accounts, as people do, that they did not disclose to the federal government. He then testified that manafort directed him to not report the accounts. At one point the prosecutor simply asked gates if he committed any crimes with manafort. Gates responded by saying, quote, yes. Gates also admitted today he stole from his boss. He copped to Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands of dollars from Paul Manafort by creating false expense reports. Manafort its important to point out has pleaded not guilty. With us with more is josh gerstein. He is senior White House Reporter for politico. And Danny Sovalos is back with
us. Josh, you get to go first because you were there. Im curious about things like eye contact, Body Language and what was the reaction in there when gates said, sure, i robbed from the boss . That does indicate there was enough money floating around it wasnt missed immediately. I dont think there was a lot of shock on embezzlement because folks will remember said in the very beginning, manaforts defense team that there would be some indication had embezzled money from manaforts firm. Gates came in, he took the stand, took the oath and in that process somehow managed never to look Paul Manafort, his former boss, in the eye directly. Didnt seem to want to look at the defense table. Looked at the prosecutors, looked at the jurors and the judge but just didnt want to crane his neck around to look directly squarely at manafort. I think as the afternoon wore on there were one or two occasions
when he look in manaforts direction or even a couple points where he said something nice about manafort. But overall he carried the admission to various crimes not just the ones in this Virginia Case but ones soon to be tried in the washington, d. C. Case against manafort. That was certainly the substance of the testimony. Danny, if youre a proskoo prosecutor, you try to make this all very above board. Did you break the law, yes, i did. But if youre the defense and you get your chance at mr. Gates, how do you further go after him to do damage to himself that his admission of a crime has not already done . First the prosecution is going to try and get all of this damaging information out on director examination. The idea being when the defense stands up to crossexamine them, theyre picking over a dead carcass by then because its all
been brought out on director examination. But still the defense is going to expose him to the crucible of cross ch crossexamination. Because anytime you have a witness its essentially where the government has gotten hand in hand with a criminal, someone who has lied, cheated, who has stolen. Theyre admitting all these things on the stand and yet theyre asking the jury dont ever believe me before now because im a liar but today im asking you to believe me. And thats the conundrum with all cooperating witnesses. The government is making a deal with the devil in order to get another criminal. Now, as you may recognize im a biased criminal defense attorney, but that is the conundrum encountered in every cooperating witness scenario. Josh, its been reported in Plain English this judge was a little snippy with the prosecution and has been tough on the prosecution among the two sides. Can you talk about that a bit . Yeah, i mean i think this has been sort of a matter of amusement to many of the jurors. He likes to make references to baked alaska deserts and say how he doesnt use email, only his wife uses email, and shoing more photos of manaforts suits than the judge thinks is appropriate, and hes reigned in the testimony theyre able to offer on some of these fronts. And today we saw the prosecutions frustration with this really boil over. There were a cup of frankly outright shouting matches between the judge and the prosecutor so its handling the gates testimony. And both sides were really frankly yelling at each other, and it was very startling. It was sort of the Courtroom Volume you might have expected in a scene from A Few Good Men or Something Like that and it
really drew your attention. And i can understand the prosecutors difficulties with some of this because as danny will realize if a ruling goes against the prosecution theres no appeal. If a judge goes too far and manafort is acquitted thats the end of the matter. If he rules against the defense in some matter, well, theyre always entitled to some appeal. There would be a political impact. This is really the prosecutions only chance to really dispute these rulings with a judge. And they clearly feel hes been tying their hands. Danny, talk about this. In a way hes safeguarding the prosecution. If they go too far or seek to admit to mean ostrich skin jackets. Or mention russia. Or mention russia or go out of bounds, then that prosecution if they get a conviction then it is ripe for appeal. As much as it may appear hes yelling at the prauosecution an
taking the defenses side, in a way hes protecting the sanctity of the trial and look out for appealable issues and heading them off before they become a real problem. But, you know, these kinds of disputes between judges and litigants are not uncommon. Litigants have to make the record especially Defense Attorneys on appeal. They have to do so zealously. So its not uncommon for fireworks to go off between counsel. As long as the jurys out of the room and out of earshot its much, much more acceptable. Counselor, thank you. And josh, every time you appear i remind our Audience Court starts early in the morning and this man is there for the start. He finishes his day often for us and we cant thanksgiving himself. Thank you, gentlemen, both of you. Coming up the president rallied voters over the weekend, the before mentioned rally in ohio before this closely watched Special Election. Steve kornacki is here to explain why this one race has attracted so much attention and
perhaps what well be talking about during this very hour when we have results tomorrow night. Ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. We have a man thats going to fight for you, hes going to fight for ohio and hes going to be here for a long time. He will never ever disappointment you. I found that out from the people who know him. Hes just not going to disappointment you. Hes really smart and hes a really hard worker. Troy balderson, come on up. President trump setting some High Expectations there for the republican candidate Troy Balderson in ohio saturday night. Tomorrow balderson faces off the democrat in this race, Danny Oconnor in a Special Election. According to the folks at real clear politics and we quote, the evally Republican 12th and its predecessors have sent republicans to congress in every
election dating back to 1980 and 1986 before that. Trump won that district by 11 points back in 2016. But according to the most recent polling this house race is a whole lot closer than most folks expected. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where Steve Kornacki comes in our National Correspondent at the big board. This time tomorrow night well probably know the winner out there in ohio. And that last line you just said, boy, that sounds familiar. Double digit historically republican districts suddenly enplay. This tomorrow the final test, the final Special Election test. Were going to see before the midterms in november. For democrats here as you say a golden opportunity according to the polls to pickoff a traditionally republican district, a trump district, a state donald trump won by 10 points in 2016. So what is going on . What are we going to look for
tomorrow night . Heres the fascinating thing, this is district, its really a tale of two districts that tells a story of two americas reacting very differently to the trump presidency. Trump won this by 11 in 2016, but lets look closer how he did it. Take a look here. This is district that goes in and around columbus. Look at the columbus part of this district, First Columbus and franklin county, about a third of all the votes cast tomorrow are going to come from this small land area right here. This is college educated, white collar professional class, higher income. Weve talked about these folks here. They are the ones that are most offended we found by donald trump. You saw this was a district that Hillary Clinton won by 18 points. That was a big improvement for democrats verse what they normally do. You look immediately north suburbs here in delaware county, trump won this in 2016 but thats worse than republicans
normally do here. Between these two parts of theies here in this district about 60 of the vote is going to come out tomorrow night and its the story of that suburban backlash against donald trump. Is balderson going to struggle relatively speaking like trump did . The rest of the district, though, the opposite story. We talk about those blue collar white voters, look at these margins. Trump won by 29 points. Obama carried this part of the district in 2012. It swung that hard to trump. So you had the folks here on this half that swung to trump, the folks on the other side that swung away. Very interesting read about which of those groups is most motivated tomorrow, brian. Youre allowed to go home for nourishment and a change of clothes but we have to have you back here tomorrow night. This is essential. Coming up as we continue
president trump told ohio supporters there could be a red wave come november and said he could destroy any gop politicians who refuse to support him. Well talk about all of it when we come back. Many People Living with diabetes
the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. I said, troy, why did you invite trump in here, the president. He said, no, i didnt. So you know i think donald trump decides where he wants to go and i think they think theyre firing up the base. But i have to tell you at the same time he comes in here i was with some women last night who said, hey, im not voting. Theyre republicans, im not voting for the republicans. See this is the problem the party has now. And that of course is the sitting governor of ohio, john kasich this week on abc news discussing president trumps involvement in tomorrows Special Election in his state. As the governor noted some republicans are worried the president could actually hurt
some gop candidates and not help. Take for example the president s decision today to endorse the Secretary Of State of the state of kansas, chris kobach for governor. Kobach has been an outspoken supporter of trumps voter fraud allegations. Hes challenging the incumbent governor. An endorsement other Party Leaders were hoping to avoid. Polls show if kobach advances he could have a tough time winning the general election come november. We are joined by two of our frequent contributors who we are so happy to have with us. David jolly, and anita kumar. The one great thing about the president coming to new jersey is we get all of our friends who cover the white house just across the hudson river. Congressman, id like to begin with you. Do you think its a when i ask you what your survival chances are as a nontrump
republican member of congress trying to seek reelection is that a moving target almost on a daily basis . It is, but some things are coming into focus as we get closer to election day. First in a republican primary donald trump has the midas touch. This is his party. Every candidate in a republican primary today including in florida is trying to get as close to it president as possible. What we also know in a general election and this goes to kansas, in every single special congressional election, every single one of them republicans have underperformed under the Trump Administration and democrats have overperformed. And we have yet to see a battle in a truly competitive congressional district. Weve yet to see those 23 to 24 republican held districts that Hillary Clinton actually won in 2016. That is where disaster could be in play if donald trump continues to play in these
races. Anita, his numbers cant be disputed. Do you think kansas is the Great Laboratory to watch in this event . Well, i mean its really interesting so surprising he got in for a lot of reasons we just said, but a lot of reasons its not surprising. These two go back a long way. Donald trump, jr. Has already been there twice, they talk frequently. So they dont have a typical relationship. They have a close relationship. Some of these other republicans may not know the president as well. So the campaign had been expecting since february that the president might endorse. They heard that he might, and so theyve kind of been expecting it and well coming it. Also, congressman, the president s twitter feed for all the good and all the bad to your point really does move voters. It does, and listen, we see this in florida right now. We have a republican gubinatory
candidate who for 20 years has been positioning himself to be a governor, a Down The Line conservative. The Trump Candidate has polevaulted to the lead, but were going to get to a competitive November Environment where democrats could have the greatest opportunity theyve had in 20 years. Donald trump has none of the down ballot positives in november, but he has all the down ballot negatives. And that is why if youre a republican facing the blue wave and you embrace donald trump you could be in trouble in november. Im going to talk to you about aspirations and talk to our journalists about reality. So starting with you, what would you like the gop Bumper Sticker for the midterm elections, party wide to read . I hope the gaap loses in november because i think we need a hard reset because i think under donald trump weve abandoned who we are as a
partner. What i expect republicans tro t sell the American People are the following. They will say they voted for lower taxes and democrats voted for higher taxes, and they will sell you fear and xenophobia talk about Border Security that truly impacts only about 5 of the constituency. Democrats selling medicare for all, obamacare, 15 minimum wage, its important to weigh those out. The question in november is do you trust donald trump and the Republican Congress because i dont think 50 of the country does. Now, anita, what do you think the bumper stick is . Is it make America Great again . Is it that simple . Every minute it changes. So i hear from republicans in washington they want it to be the economy. They want it to be tax cuts, you know, the things that we all think, right . Maybe Border Security, maybe some health care here and there, but thats what they really want to talk about. The let the president talk about the economy. Remember a week and a half ago when the job numbers came out . I cant remember. The president came out into the rose garden and he had the speech about the economy and how great it was. Oh, yeah. And people were cheering, republicans were cheering that speech. Thats what they want him to do for the next three months. Now, thats not whats going to happen for the next three months. Whats going to happen is were going to have tweets about lebron james, russia and the witch hunt and all sorts of people insulting all sorts of people just because he cant stay on message. Before we were talking about how he went to his first trump rally. A trump political rally is 90 minutes. He talks about everything. Its not about the candidate hes there to support, its usually about himself and its about a million things under the sun. So we cannot expect oeitll be
about the economy. Current White House Correspondent anita kumar, i hope my home state is being good to you. Enjoy the Northern New Jersey area while youre here. Coming up the Life And Death Str Struggle that is under way out west, where they dont have time to stop to try to figure out just what it is the president meant. That and more when we come back. From the very beginning. It was always our singular focus, a distinct determination. To do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. To fight cancer. And never lose sight of the patients were fighting for. Our Cancer Treatment specialists share the same vision. Experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. Specialists focused on treating cancer. Using advanced technologies. And more precise treatments than before. Working as hard as we can doing all that we can for everyone who walks through our doors. This is Cancer Treatment centers of america. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Treating cancer isnt one thing we do. Its the only thing we do. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Cancer Treatment centers of america. Appointments available now. The last thing before we go here tonight is one of the aspects of this new normal were all living, its the notion say nothing of the near daily reality of statements by the president , and thats what tweets from the president are. Statements by the president that in this case make little or no sense and contain falsehoods. Case in point, the president s tweets about this churning, grinding tragedy that californians are witnessing right now. 17 major fires are burning, 9 people have died, and we just learned tonight the largest of the these fires has just tonight become the largest in the history of that state. Over 1,100 structures have been destroyed. Watch this loop from the whether service satellite focused on the american west. This is what the fires look like from space. Look at those smoke plumes. They now stretch clear across nevada and into new mexico. And heres what the president said about the california fires. Quote, governor jerry brown must allow the capitalized free fleof water coming from the north and foolishly being diverted from the Pacific Ocean can be used for farm fires and everything else. Fast, federal government approval. But wait theres more. California wildfires are being magnified and made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which arent allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being dwurltiverted into Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading. An l. A. Times writer today called that strikingly ignorant. To be clear no one that were aware of in california, in
academia, in government seems to know what the president is talking about other than the fact that rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean. And what does the president mean by tree clear . If he means fire breaks, they have been a regular means of Fire Fighting and Fire Prevention for generations on our wild lands. Right now there are hundreds of people in california who have lost everything. Overnight tonight more families will lose everything. The death toll in these fires includes children. The countryside will be scarred for a generation along with all available aircraft and apparatus there are 14,000 firefighters in this fight. And they include some of the bravest and best people our country can produce. So between condolences and comfort and thanks and cheering them all on theres plenty to say on twitter or anywhere else about this life and death